‘Tales from the Flyway’: House Concerts

It been a long process with lots of  thinking, bird watching, writing, composing and making, but friend Sarah Depasquale and I finally launched our show at the Williamstown Literary Festival 2015. We dedicate the piece to the Friends Groups and Rangers who care for the urban wetlands and hope that we are contributing to the awareness of the connection between wildlife and habitat in the inner urban area.

We've been enjoying some House Concerts  and thank our friends Cath and Mariam for inviting us into their homes and gardens. We've even managed to raise some money for one of our local Friends Groups.

We've struck it  lucky with delicious afternoon spreads. Jean-Marie is a French chef and those cakes you can see were to die for. At the R.A.W. Garden we were treated to Shah and Sheko, Somalian tea and stories.

Jean-Marie has retired so I can't help you out with the French cakes but if you would like to enjoy an afternoon in the R.A.W Garden you can fiend Mariam and her friends HERE.

'Tales form the Flyway' will be traveling to the Port Fairy Folk Festival in March 2016

100 Story Buildng and Ethiopian New Year September 2015

Well it just makes sense for 100 Story Building to host an activity when Ethiopian New Year is being celebrated right outside the front door.

100 Story Building is about providing opportunities for marginalised young people to develop literacy skills, confidence and a sense of belonging but its also a lot of fun mucking with stories written, drawn, acted, told ... whatever takes your fancy!

Living a short bike ride away from Footscray, where they are located, I'm able to volunteer at times and its good to know that my odd bag of
skills are useful.

A festival tragic, when asked to do a shift during the Ethiopian New Year Festival, of course I jumped.

Simon Conlon and I set up a table in the Mall with pencils and paper and the children were invited to draw comics and try and cover one of the windows. While I looked after the comic factory, Simon had all kinds of magical things happening inside including shadow puppets.

A slow start but in the end I had a table full of of
story makers. Every now and then I was able to zip away and snap some photos of the events on stage.

I love living west of the Yarra in the thick of a multicultural community.

Learn more about 100 Story Building HERE

You might like to join me  and become a volunteer?

Feeling blessed spending time with fine women storytelling friends.

Feeling blessed spending time with fine women storytelling friends with big hearts and embracing ideas.

The week began with a visit to Mariam Issa and her RAW project 'Resliant Aspiring Women'. In the company of Kate Lawrence we drove across town to see Mariam's garden and talk story and ideas about how the Storytelling Australia Victoria can support events during 2016.

Then on the weekend I trained off to Kyneton to visit Suzanne Sandow, who has been telling stories, painting children's faces, directing and reviewing theatre ... for years. She showed me some of the beautiful performance venues in Kyneton, including The Bluestone Theatre and introduced me to the movers and shakers behind the Lost Trades Fair. Together we pondered the ways storytelling might be included in such an event.

But my main destination for the weekend was Maryborough to visit Ronda Gault. Ronda has been involved with Storytelling Vic for decades - a teacher, librarian, French speaker, goat hearder and chicken wrangler.

Ronda decided it was time to initiate a Storytelling circle in her home town. So as part of the Words in Winter Festival she decided to run a beginners workshop where people could hear a story, learn a story and tell a story.

Wearing my presidential hat (Storytelling Australia Vic) I was keen to support this idea. I dream of Storytelling Circles dotted around Victoria where ordinary people can gather, where everyone can be heard - all ages, genders, cultures. What better way to strengthen compassionate community and build collective and personal resilience.

If you're interested in learning more about the Maryborough Storytelling Circle contact Storytelling Australia Victoria: storytellingvic@live.com.au

'The Mahabharata Adventure' Newport Folk festival 5 July 2015

'The Mahabharata', one of the world's great stories, will be honored in one of Newport's humblest buildings. I think Vyasa would approve. A celebration and exploration using film, poetry, song, visual art and story at the Newport Folk Festival . A collaboration involving local, national and international minds and glued together by members of Storytelling Australia Victoria and the Newport Fiddle and Folk Club. 

We approached this project rather like a shambolic Book Club which a couple of us set up as an open group on Facebook. Our hope was to broaden and deepen our understanding of the epic. It wasn't long before storytellers, artists and other curious folk joined us from around the world and together we pecked away for 8 months exchanging links and and ideas. We decided that the exploration needed an outcome - some kind of event so the 'The Mahabharata Adventure' was born.

'The Adventure' was the brainchild of myself and Gerry Nelson from Storytelling Australia Victoria and includes SAV members Peter Fernon and Lana Woolf.Other adventurers came from the Newport Fiddle & Folk Club, Greg Hammond, Leonie Kervin and Christine McDonald. We are also indebted to Kala Paramanathan, Laura Sheridan, Rupa Anurendra and Anu Jegadeva, Aunty Nesa, Richard MacNeill and Michael Stewart as well as the countless enthusiasts who joined us on the journey from around the world via Facebook. Special thanks to Andy Fraenkel, Narayan Arunasalam, Kamini Ramachandran, Asha Sampath, GoodDay Tarmada and Kiran Shah.

‘Whatever is here, is found elsewhere. But what is not here, is nowhere else. ‘ (The Book of the Beginning)

Full Details for the Newport Folk Festival HERE

'The Sentimental Bloke 100 Years on' Newport Folk Festival 4 July 2015

Very excited to be part of 'The Sentimental Bloke 100 Years on'.

This project, developed especially for the Newport Folk Festival, will launch into the universe on Saturday July 4.

With Alan and Dave Davies recitin' the verse and Nicola Johnson doin' the tunes, I'll be narratin' the bits in between.

Check out all the details for the Festival HERE


Click on poster to enlarge

Jackie and Dharma: Newport Folk Festival regulars 3 July 2015

One of my favourite gigs for the year, and chance to work with Dharma. We've been doing a spot for the kids since the festival first began. Long may we continue!

click to enlarge

Williamstowm Literary Festival: Saturday and Sunday 13 and 14 June 2015

Tales from the Flyway 

June 13

2.00pm – 3.00 pm

Recently I met violinist Sarah Depasquale at the Newport Fiddle and Folk Club. We discovered we share a love of bikes, sensible shoes, binoculars and storytelling and decided to combine our skills in a collaborative storytelling adventure.

Sarah and I live in Hobsons Bay where there are five significant wetland sites. A week would not go past without us walking or riding our bikes along the ponds and checking in on the birds. Some of the migratory shore birds that travel between the Arctic tundra and SE Australia can be spotted over spring and summer. These are birds that connect us to countries via wetlands and transcend language and cultural boundaries. The corridors that the birds travel are called Flyways and Hobsons Bay is on the East Asian Australasian Flyway linking us to Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Japan, Mongolia …

What more inspiration does a musician and storyteller need?

The structure of Tales from the Flyway is simple. If we were to fly with the birds and visit the chain of wetlands in the countries along the flyway, what stories might we hear? Sarah and I have harvested stories from Indonesia, Thailand and Siberia. Our final story is a kamishibai story that has been passed down the Flyway from the Yatsuhigata Tideland in Japan (in 2008) to Boondall in Brisbane and then on to us (2015) for telling in Hobsons Bay. For me, receiving this story was very moving – a validation that there are people who see the big picture and don’t allow bureaucracy to get in the way of an idea. I thank the Yatsuhigata Tidelands Observation Centre, Brisbane City Council and the Rangers at Boondall Wetlands.

I would also like to thank City of Melbourne Arts Grants and the SAV series Words on the Wind that gave me time to work on this idea.

Hope some of you can join Sarah and me for Tales from the Flyway.

This is some video taken on world Migratory Bird day where Sarah and I adapted a story to share with children but please note  Tales from the Flyway is not suitable for the very young.

BOOK HERE

Kamishibai: Stories on a Bike 

June 14

12.00pm - 1.00pm

Kamishibai (paper theatre) is a kind of visual storytelling once popular in Japan in the 1930s and 40s. Connected to comic book making and anime, kamishibai is experiencing resurgence around the world. Many kamishibai storytellers who work in as many languages, connect via the internet to share ideas for building rigs and picture cards are swapped as jpegs or pdfs. Google translate is a wonder!

The box used to frame the pictures is called a ‘stage’. I have two – a beautiful handcrafted stage made from recycled eucalypt made by my friend Ted Smith from the Newport Fiddle and Folk Club and another that I made from papier mache and heavy duty cardboard. This one I can fix to my bike, take to the streets and parks and busk. If you are interested, you can see the plans for this one on the Storytelling Australia Victoria site under RESOURCES

I’d love to meet you in the Williamstown Town Hall at the Festival, tell some tales and share the magic of stories on wheels.

*(with children in mind but everyone will enjoy)

BOOK HERE